Marist Baseball Looks to Make Noise in the MAAC

The Marist Baseball team has one goal in mind-win the MAAC Championship and get to the NCAA Tournament. The Marist Baseball team finished the 2008 season at 19-28, a record they look to avoid for the 2009 season.

At the beginning of the 2009 season, they started off 6-2 and looked to be a force in the MAAC. Marist has started off the season on a roller coaster ride. After starting 6-2, they then lost 6 straight to Norfolk State, Delaware and George Mason.

“It was tough losing the 6 straight games after starting the season out so well,” said junior pitcher Eric Alessio. “We just knew we had to bounce back and start playing the way we started out the season.”

Since the Marist 6 game-losing streak, the Marist Baseball team rebounded in a huge way. They won 6 straight games against Iona, Albany and Canisius.

“We know what we are capable of,” said Marist utility man Ryan Gauck. “That 6 game-losing streak didn’t really effect us in the

Marist Player Ryan Gauck Goes 3-5 in Win Over Canisius

way that we are going to put our heads down and act as if the season is over. We are going to keep playing hard every game, and see where that takes us.”

So far during the season, Marist is 12-9 and look to add wins to their record.

“We know we have a long season ahead of us,” said Coach Healy. ” We want to improve on this record, and stay consistent for the entire year. It’s going to be a difficult task, but I feel this team can do it, and perform to the best of their ability.”

There have been a few stars so far this season. Jake Rifkin is 1-1 with a 2.04 ERA and 7 strikeouts. Jacob Wiley is 3-1 with a 3.21 ERA and 11 strikeouts. Ricky Pacione has hit 5 homeruns and has 25 RBI. He has an outstanding .390 batting average. Bryce Nugent is follwing right behind Pacione. He has hit 3 homeruns with 24 RBI. He is batting .347 during the year.

Marist Baseball looks to have a great rest of the season and wants to achieve the goals they set at the beginning of the year.

“We want to win our conference and want to have a chance in the NCAA Tournament,” said Alessio. ” We feel like we have a great team this year, and we are going to do whatever it takes to achieve these goals.”